Grooveshark has been having a little trouble signing the major records labels to their service. It seems that the majors try suing Grooveshark first and then sign a license deal with them later. Merlin is the latest major music company to sign with Grooveshark. Thus, this concludes the Merlin litigation against Grooveshark, always a nice starting point for a fruitful renegotiation.
It just seems like these major music companies are using litigation as a means to gain better terms in the negotiations.
Merlin chief Charles Caldas offered some words of caution against further funny business. “We wish Grooveshark all the best going forward and hope that this will be an important reminder to other music services looking to launch soon,” Caldas said.
I really think Merlin should stop with the heavy handed tactics or soon they will lose some of the labels within their walls!
Can music streaming ever be a viable alternative to hard copy and download music sales? WMG’s Edgar Bronfman has his doubts, and looking at some of the figures being published in the media they might seem reasonable. Increases in the number of users on services that provide on-demand music streaming (where you pick the track you want to hear like MOG, Spotify, and Grooveshark) correspond to decreases in music sales, while increases in use of radio’ streaming services [Last.fm, Pandora] seemed to drive more sales. There doesn’t seem to be any mystery as to why this might be; Spotify’s and MOG’s users no longer have any reason to buy music from other sources once they’re signed up (particularly as they can put their playlists on their iPods and other mobile devices if they buy a premium account), while Pandora and Last.fm’s customers have no guarantee of getting a particular track on their playlist again, so they have to buy it to hear it whenever they want. This might seem to be an open and shut case for the record labels; one service drives sales, while another cuts revenue – but it’s not quite as simple as that. Spotify has massive customer appeal, as the hordes that try and sign up every time they re-open user registration prove, and it also drives a lot of interaction with listeners; according to Spotify’s own figures the average use playlists around 15,000 tracks. The vast majority of Spotify’s users might be on the free-to-listen ad supported plan, with only single figure percentages signed up to their £10 a month premium package, but it’s clear that the proposition is incredibly attractive to consumers. The premium users represent a healthy annual income for the record labels to share with the platform; £120 a year is not an insignificant spend, and the potential for fledgling on demand platforms to increase their advertising revenue so that even the non-paying customers are generating profits for the record labels is proportional to the platforms’ desirability and popularity,
On demand services are what the consumer wants, and are proven to reduce the incidence of file sharing and online music piracy, something that unequivocally costs the music industry. Cutting off support for such services would surely drive a proportion of users back to illegal, non-revenue-generating, methods of consumption. Assessing the profitability of on demand against radio streaming will have to be done over the coming years as the platforms mature and adjust their business models, but it seems unlikely that killing off the most eagerly recieved of the net’s music biz babies just as they’re getting established would be a rational strategy for the industry.
For our part, we’re seeing tangible revenues come back for our artists from on demand services, and we’re happy to be able to help independent artists get music up on Spotify and in other online stores.
We7 boss Steve Purdham revealed on-stage at MidemNet that the streaming music firm will launch its premium offering on 1 February.
The company has announced more details:
Unlimited stream access to more than 4 million songs – £4.99 a month, no ads.
Premium Plus includes the above plus mobile access with iPhone and Android apps – £9.99 per month
“The new premium services are about choice for the consumer,” “In the new digital music economy there is no single business model that fits all. That is why we give consumers the ability to listen to great music how they want, where they want and at a price they are prepared to pay.” says CEO Steve Purdham.
We7 are going to just compete head on with Spotify in the UK market. Im not exactly too sure this is a good idea. I dont really understand why We7 didnt just focus on becoming more of an international online music streaming site. We7 is very popular here in the UK, but they are still a long way behind in other markets. Maybe they are trying to run before they can walk. However, I understand that they feel they need to launch such a service as other competitors such as Spotify, Grooveshark, Thumbplay and MOG, move into this market.
Remember back in October, when EMI were negotiating a deal with Grooveshark, then changed their mind and decided to sue them, then broke off the pursuit of their lawsuit and instead signed a licensing agreement with them? The press releases (via All things digital) went something like this:
1:
Recently, EMI Records chose to abandon the template we’ve built with the help of other major copyright holders and opted for their traditional intimidation tactic of filing a lawsuit as a negotiating tool. We find the use of this negotiating strategy counterproductive, as Grooveshark has been willing to conclude an agreement with EMI Records that is economically sustainable for both EMI Records and a start-up company the size of Grooveshark.
2:
“EMI Music and EMI Music Publishing have collaborated with us to create a mutually sustainable deal which represents the future of digital music,” says Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino. “We will continue to deliver the best music service on the Internet to our users, and we will expand our capacity to strengthen fan-to-artist connections through our technology.”
“We think services like Grooveshark offer great music discovery options for fans,” said Mark Piibe, EMI Music’s Global Head of Digital Business Development. ”In turn, Grooveshark offers a new revenue stream for our artists and will help us learn more about how we can better connect different types of fans with artists.”
The mixed feelings about Grooveshark’s operation seem to extend outside the EMI boardroom – Universal are now suing Grooveshark for copyright infringement on some big artists from their pre 1972 recordings, including Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, The Who and Chuck Berry. Why they’ve chosen these particular artists to make a case on is unclear, but the case is seemingly strong: if Universal are withholding the copyright to the tracks that Grooveshark is playing then they have no choice but to either prevent access to the tracks that are in question, and make reparations for past breach that are acceptable to the label, or fight the court case. The long term effects of this case will be interesting to see. Grooveshark have been allowed to operate relatively unmolested by the big labels while other services, like Seeqpod, have been forced out, so why have Universal decided to apply pressure at this point? Are they thinking like Grooveshark suspect, that they can bully their way into a deal with the streaming service without having to give away a rock bottom streaming royalty rate?
Grooveshark are now firmly cemented as members of the free music for music fans fraternity along with others including We7, Deezer and obviously new giants Spotify. (we know there not all completely free!) With these guys being directly involved in the way music is changing, and likely being involved in someway with the big four record labels that everyone is quickly getting fed up with eventually go under, its only natural that they’d be knocking around The Future Of Music Summit.
Some interviews, be they amateur ones, are leaking its way to the net. Jack DeYoun (VP of label relations at Grooveshark) was mauled outside the summit by Scott Stead. The interview goes well until Jack reveals his favourite band…… so close.
disclosure: RouteNote is partners with Grooveshark.
RouteNote has been lucky enough to partner with the music streaming service Grooveshark. Grooveshark provide a great user interface which allows listeners from anywhere in the world to stream the music online. RouteNote artists will soon have the option to get their music added to the Grooveshark database. Additionally, Grooveshark artists will now see the exclusive distribution partnership between Grooveshark and RouteNote via their artist platform.
The world has just about bypassed the era of being on the cusp of everything going digital. The resulting climate now is one of fierce competition of companies and developers trying to out do each other and re-invent themselves.
The vision of Grooveshark.com is to bring people and music closer together by making the whole process of finding the song you want that much easier. Whilst doing their bit to change the way the music industry is run to ways they seem so unwilling to consider. Grooveshark.com offers ways for listening to the old classics or the most up-todate numbers without having to worry about those ugly file sharing sites that seem to be nipping at everyone’s feet.
Grooveshark over the last few months have been successfully talking to a confident amount of copyright holders about licensing agreements and to distribute their content in a way that will be mutually beneficial to both parties.
In a nutshell, Grooveshark seems to be the sort of website that hundreds, probably thousands, of music fans have dreamed of. Easy, Legal and free way of just quickly sticking on that song that that girl told you about last night, or an awesome song you want your mates to hear. Grooveshark.com is a music site made for music fans by music fans. Sam Tarantino (founder anc CEO) and Douglas Bell (Network and systems administrator) themselves are both musician and are obviously the kind of people that now what people want, and as genuine music fans know what music fans want. But the difference is they have gone and made it happen.
We love you Grooveshark.com keep up the good work.
The world has just about bypassed the era of being on the cusp of everything going digital. The resulting climate now is one of fierce competition of companies and developers trying to out do each other and re-invent themselves.
website that hundreds, probably thousands, of music fans have dreamed of. Easy, Legal and free way of just quickly sticking on that song that that girl told you about last night, or an awesome song you want your mates to hear. Grooveshark.com is a music site made for music fans by music fans. 